Improved mode of hardening- and working



UNITED ScrA'rEs PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD NoRRIs, Je., or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Specijicatz'ou formingipa-rt of Letters Patent No. 92,345, dated July 6,1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known. that I, RICHARD NoRRis, Jr.,

I of Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore and' State of Maryland, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in the manner of hardeningand washing what is commonly known as the Ransoine Concrete Stone, and Ido hereby declare the following to be a iull, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1represents a perspective view of an apparatus which hasbeen'successiully used in applying these forced hardening and washingprocesses to the artilicial stone. Fig. 2 represents a verticalcross-section through the same. Figs. 3 and 4 represent perforateddiaphragms, which, in connection with rubber cloth or other equivalentpacking material, and with the stone or stones to be hardened andwashed, or either, separate the two chainbers within the outer shell orjacket, so that the liquid used for hardening or washing must, perforce,pass through the stone or stones in passing from one chamber to theother under pressure.

SimilarI letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures,denote like parts of the apparatus or appliances in all of the figures.

My invention consists in inclosing artificial stones, or the incipientstones, in a close chamber, which, by suitable packing and diaphragms,may be separated into two chambers in its interior, and so that thestone or stones to be treated, when placed on said diaphragm andpacking, shall be the only avenue or communication through which thechloride of calcium for hardening, or Water for washing out the chlorideof sodium formed therein, can pass under pressure from one chamber tothe other.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

lmay be introduced. Within this close cylin der or chamber, and upon aledge, a, secured thereto, is placed a track, b, or a perforateddiaphragm, c, as the case may be, and as will be hereinafter explained.

U is a tank or reservoir for containing the chloride of calcium used inthe process, this tank, for convenience, being sunk in the ground, sothat the cylinder may be emptied into it, through a connecting ordraining pipe, the cylinder and the tank, with their appliances forcontrolling them, constituting themain elements of the apparatus.

When the exhausting process is used in this apparatus, I proceed to iillthe chamber with the molded sand and silicate composition, and y forconvenience do so by running a small car loaded with the blocks orpieces to beso treated into the cylinder upon the track b. The door B isthen closed and sealed, luted or packed. Then, by an air-pump connectedwith the pipe D, the air is exhausted from the cylinder and from thecomposition, and the pipeclosed by the cock e. The cock d in the pipe Eis then opened, and the chloride rushes up into the cylinder, where itsurrounds the incipient stone or stones, and thoroughly penetrating thecomposition and converting the silicate into an insoluble silicate oflime, and thus hardening the material. When the process has beencompleted, then the cock e in the pipe D is opened, and the chloride ofcalcium runs back into the reservoir. Water for washing out the chlorideof sodium formed in the stone may be introduced substantially in thesame way.

In the pressure processes a different dispositionof the material to betreated is made in the cylinder, and better shown in Fig. 2. The track bis withdrawn, and a perforated diaphragm, e, is laid upon the ledge et,this diaphragm having a rubber packing, f, undern neath and around itsedges, and over it is placed a perforated rubber diaphragm, g, the holesof which match the holes in the metal diaphragm e. Upon the rubber g islaid the material to be treated, and so that it shall cover some of theholes through the diaphragms, and the remaining holes, if any, notcovered by the material to be treated are plugged with rubber plugs h.The door is then closed and made tight,as bef'ore explained. Thechloride of calcium or the water, whichever may be used at the timebeing, is introduced into the upper part of the cylinder through thepipe F, until the stone G is sur-` rounded by it. The cock in the pipe Fis closed, and by means ot'a 11 ydranlic press, H, operated in any ofthe usual well-known Ways. The Vcalcium or water above and around thestone is forced or pressed through the stone, permeating every minutespace in it,and thus ei'ectually accomplishing the hardening or washingprocess, Whichever it may be. It' the former, when the chloride ofcalcium is driven through and int-o the lower or under chamber, it maybe drawn oil' through the pipe E into the reservoir again; and if it bethe washing` process, then the water driven through the stone into thelower chamber is drawn off n. Nomos, JR.`

Witnesses:

W. H. CARPENTER, W. G. HALYBURTON.

